5 players most affected by the Cardinals' lack of activity

4/5. Michael McGreevy and Gordon Graceffo

The Cardinals' front office promised that 2025 was going to be a season to let the kids play. That announcement had to figure into the decisions to decline the options on veteran leaders Kyle Gibson and Lance Lynn. That also paved the way for potential trades coming out of St. Louis with Sonny Gray, Miles Mikolas, Erick Fedde, and Steven Matz looking like players who could change uniforms this offseason. However, Gray and Mikolas quickly nixed their names from deals with their desire to stay in St. Louis and not waive their no-trade clauses. This led to speculation that deadline acquisition Fedde, who is under contract for a very affordable $7.5 million, could be shipped for quality prospects or Matz could be swapped for salary relief and a lottery ticket.

If any of the above names were to be moved, Michael McGreevy and Gordon Graceffo appear to be front runners to fill the rotation. Each of them received a late-season audition with the Cardinals and performed well enough to enter the fifth starter conversation. As the rotation currently stands, there is only one spot open with each of these two plus at least a handful more seeming to be options for the final spot. One would think that any deal involving the veteran holdovers would potentially open two rotation spots. For now, however, it appears that only one (or also possibly none) of the two of McGreevy or Graceffo would crack the big league roster out of Spring Training.

The Cardinals' lack of activity is frustrating to fans and puzzling to executives around the league, but to these players, it also clouds their major league future. Brendan Donovan is going to find consistent at-bats regardless of the offseason outcome, but it remains to be seen where he will finally settle in defensively. The youngsters like Thomas Saggese and Alec Burleson face an uphill battle at playing time, and in Saggese's case, that could mean not even cracking the big league roster. The rotation seems to only have one opening due to three other spots being filled with veterans, so Michael McGreevy and Gordon Graceffo are going to have to battle with a few other options for that final spot.